Last month, for the first time in two decades, the U.S. produced more crude oil than it imported. Increased domestic oil production and conservation are inching the USA closer toward energy independence. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Let me get this straight. We are now producing more oil than we are importing. So how does that help us? Not at all. Oil companies sell and buy on the world market. So we pay the premium price for the oil to make gasoline no matter where it is produced.

— Robert Raiford

Pick your plight: high energy prices, high unemployment and offshore dependence vs. tapping resources via "fracking." I'll take fracking. Besides, at some point natural gas sources are going to have to be tapped. If not today, tomorrow for sure. We as a culture just can't turn down our heat or turn off our cars.

— Philip Plummer

If people saw the hills around where I live in Wisconsin being ripped apart for the silica sand used in fracking, they might sing a different song. I doubt it, though. People are so blind.

— Gordon Edwards

Regardless of what fuel is propelling vehicles, one thing will pay off across the board: systemically designed lighter, stronger, safer vehicles using advanced materials.

Efficiency is likely cheaper for society than finding new fuel sources.

— Lyle Stavast

Letter to the editor:

The U.S. is becoming more energy independent because of the vast reserves of natural resources we have and the implementation of alternative power. If the Obama administration would allow it, we could be "on our own" by 2030.

Not depending on foreign oil from countries and millions of people who hate us and our way of life would not only free us of any need to maintain a presence half way around the world, but we also could evacuate our Navy from the Strait of Hormuz. It is costly to American taxpayers to protect this waterway and maintain order in the region.

First things first: We must be allowed to drill and refine our vast resources.